In the world of real estate, marketing your product is vital to connecting with customers. A strong marketing campaign goes beyond lawn signs and fliers; it brings the homes you represent into the electronic world and connects them to prospective buyers through the strength of the emotional connection, a sense of community, and a little bit of oomph to make yourself stand out.

A good real estate agent’s toolbox can contain anything from social media, targeted websites to the power of branding yourself as a highly visible, trustworthy voice in the field.

1. Embrace Mobile

People live their lives by their cell phones; it’s how we do everything from staying on top of work to keeping in touch with our loved ones. Cellphones can also make our daily lives easier and help us achieve major landmarks in life (like buying a home).

Make sure your marketing is easily digestible on a cell phone. Does your social media marketing, like Facebook or Instagram, link back to your website? Make sure it’s browsable on mobile. Are you utilizing mobile apps and social media to be more shareable, get more likes, and be more interactive with your audience? Make sure your posts fit the tone and feel of a site.

If you’re on Instagram, you don’t want a boilerplate exterior shot of a home. Look for something unique or beautiful to create a feeling of style.

Does the house feature something odd or unique, like a backyard built for parties or bamboo floors? Highlight the unusual. Don’t worry about the big picture — that’s not what Instagram is about.

2. Focus on the Photography

Photography can make or break a listing. A bad or lackluster picture is the easiest way to make someone swipe left on your listing. You want to sell your prospective buyers a home instead of a house, so photography that shows a house’s ability to be the centerpiece of a life makes a world of difference.

Any picture won’t do; you need photography that plays up the home’s strengths, looks different from the millions of cookie cutter listings out there, and catches the eye.

Show it. Don’t be afraid to use lighting to suit the mood of your desired shot or follow the home’s lighting design.

If you’re not certain of your photography skills, hire a photographer or do a little research into what makes for a good photography. You don’t even need fancy equipment; most recent generation cell phones boast fairly high-quality cameras.

You can also use a variety of mediums to give your clientele a better look inside a home. Video tours, panoramas or 360-degree interactive video can help put your prospective buyers into the home.

3. Location, Location, Location

It’s the first rule of real estate: A perfect home next to an airport is not a perfect home. When you’re selling a home, play up the surrounding community.

You want your clients to be able to picture themselves raising a family, hosting block parties, running to the grocery store, or anything else that constitutes a life in the neighborhood.

Show them all the reasons why the community is desirable and how living there will improve their lives.

4. Ease of Contact

It seems simple, and yet it’s one of the most important aspects of your marketing. Make sure your contact information, whether it’s phone, email, or website, is easy to see and interact with on all of your marketing.

You want your prospective buyers to be able to reach out to you at the moment before they have time to second-guess themselves or are distracted by something else. Marketing is the art of bringing an audience to you — facilitate that contact and be sure to answer the call (or email) when it happens.

5. Make Everything Sharable

The first thing you do when you see something funny online is you think of a person to send it to. House hunting is kind of like that; you want your prospective buyers to see your listings and immediately share it to friends and family.

Not only does this help spread your marketing further, it can help get buyers on board. They’re going to look to trusted family members or friends to help make a decision, making the shareability of your content vital.

For example, if you’re listings are on facebook, make sure they’re public and not just visible to your clientele.

6. Work On Your Brand

There are tons of real estate agents out there. Set yourself apart by building your brand. Make yourself a trusted name in the community — a voice of wisdom and authority.

Find media that is an active voice in your community, like blogs or magazines, and offer to write content for them that reflects your knowledge in the field. Be active in your community with your time and resources.

Partner with local businesses for events or activities. Volunteer. Think outside the box. Don’t slap your logo on a pen and hand them out with business cards; make your marketing material unique, funny, or useful.

7. Tell Them a Story

Create an emotional attachment to go with your marketing. Every home has a story; use the story to your benefit. Pay attention to the wording in your listings or social media posts; use words with heavy meaning or unusual descriptors.

You want it to stand out, and to encourage an emotional attachment to what your prospective buyer is seeing. And emotional connection goes a long way to bridging the gap between a listing and a potential home.

A home always has a story. The selling owners lived a life there. Did your sellers recently remodel the kitchen? You can talk about that in the bigger narrative. Put your prospective buyers in the life a home can create.

You can also get testimonials from previous clients about how you helped them come home to prove to potential clients that you’re more than a realtor — you’re a person who helps give people the life they want.

8. Be a Person

Nobody wants to be treated like they are being marketed to. In your marketing, talk to your audience like you are having a conversation with them. Be a human. Interact with clients. Be genuine. Chat, laugh, and be interested in your clients.

Likability goes a long way to building trust. And the more your prospective clients see you interested in the happiness of your clients rather than landing a sale, the more they’ll want to work with you and refer you to others.

Digital marketing is great, but word of mouth is powerful, and along with all your other marketing efforts, bring your business to the next level.